So, why do people start studying for JEE right after their Class 10th? Reminds me of this funny answer on Quora for someone who wanted to start their child’s preparation from Class 1. You can check it out here. It’s hilarious! So, whether you start early or late, one of the biggest challenges in JEE preparation is Time Management. That’s actually a skill to master all through your life but more so in a crucial time of your life like this. If IITs are your dream and you have set your mind to it, there’s nothing that can stop you. So here we are to further you in this journey to the IITs with a few tips for Time Management for JEE Main:

Time Management Tips for JEE Main:

1. Stick to JEE syllabus:

So, there is NCERT and then there are plenty of those books that we use as reference books for our JEE preparation. These are necessary for theory and practice but sometimes we overdo it and then it becomes a huge burden. What happens is that many books have a syllabus that is not exactly from JEE Syllabus and before we know it we would have wasted an unnecessary amount of time into it.

So, your first task should be getting JEE syllabus, choosing a select few books, a select few regular tests and stick to it. There will be peers that may be reading from other books and people might tell you how reading everything really helps in your JEE exam. Even if extra knowledge won’t hurt, but time and focus spent on something that won’t help you in your exam is actually time wasted.

2. Prepare an hourly schedule and stick to it

Yes, every other article or person will tell you this but you know how things like this happen? Just like how you brush your teeth every day- By forming habits. You need to push yourself and get out of bed to do this every single day until it becomes intrinsic. Trust me, once it is intrinsic to you, it won’t be so hard to follow your schedule. Students study easily 10-12 hours a day for JEE. Sometimes even more.

A great tip for time management for JEE Main- There’s a principle in Japanese culture called “Kaizen Principle” that translates to “continuous movement”. This movement is of productivity, A concept I feel might help following your schedule goes this way- Everyday, do a specific activity you want to form a habit of, at the same time for one minute. Doing it every day at the same time is important. Your mind is getting accustomed to a certain discipline for the activity. Before you know it, the one minute becomes 5 and then you’d find yourself easily rolling into hours. This flow is where you benefit. 

Subject-wise time allotment:

Who knows your improvement areas better than you? Yes, you can use online platforms that you can use and will tell you exactly the specific topics you need to focus on. This is the kind of personal attention you need. Mornings and late nights have seemed to be the most alert periods of the day. Utilize these periods by prioritizing the areas that need the most attention. Allow yourself enough breathing time. This schedule of yours shouldn’t be filled with back-to-back study with no breaks. Put hobbies and fillers in between your time-table too. All work no play makes Jack a dull boy. You don’t want to be jack. You want to have a healthy mind, body, and soul to get through this smoothly.

Once you have understood a subject really well, definitely practice questions, solve previous year JEE Main papers, compare that we JEE main answer key. The key is to not just get over theory quickly but to run practice in parallel to really install the concept in your mind.

3. Practice for speed and accuracy after you are firmly done with your syllabus:

Another great tip for time management for JEE Main: Once you think your basics are strong, now is the time to make yourself what I’d like to call “IIT Material”. The time per question is a real challenge for your exam and this is the one you have to definitely nail to get into IITs. Speed and accuracy only come with one thing- practicing solving questions.

To achieve speed and accuracy- you need to make the question a habituated pattern in your mind. To make solving a habituated pattern, you need to have seen such patterns and applied such strategies many times before, right? That is why you need to solve many different types of questions in the test series, regular exercises and previous year papers. And don’t just take these tests and forget about them after. Keep consistently solving JEE Main previous year and comparing them with their respective JEE Main answer key. Make enough time to revise and ensure that no doubt breeds.

4. Time management for JEE Main exam- While writing the exam:

This is our one last tip for time management for JEE Main- On the D-Day, when you approach your exam, make sure you are well rested and not overfed. Start with the super simple questions in your exam first. DO NOT get stuck on one question for far too long. Learn to move on and do those that are doable and are familiar to you. Keep an alert mind. Simple calculation mistakes can cost you 100s of ranks. If needed, practice some meditation before.

You may be a slow learner or a fast one, it doesn’t matter for cracking JEE. You need to be able to introspect your level honestly before you know your time management for JEE Main. While actually giving the exam, keep a calm composed head. Focus on what’s in front of you and don’t let one hard question get to your nerves. Remember that at the end of the day, it is only an exam and not your be-it-all and end-it-all. Keep this balance in place and you will be unstoppable!